http://hitsdailydouble.co...;id=305968

The trending topic among biz folk at Coachella is Prince. Industryites at the desert fest are buzzing over news that wheels are in motion to nullify Universal Music Group’s deal with Prince’s estate. The $30m UMG spent to acquire Prince recordings beginning in 2018 is expected to be returned to the company and the dealmakers—estate advisers Charles Koppelman and L. Londell McMillan—will likely be compelled to return their seven-figure fees, according to insiders.

feeluupp said:

http://hitsdailydouble.co...;id=305968

The trending topic among biz folk at Coachella is Prince. Industryites at the desert fest are buzzing over news that wheels are in motion to nullify Universal Music Group’s deal with Prince’s estate. The $30m UMG spent to acquire Prince recordings beginning in 2018 is expected to be returned to the company and the dealmakers—estate advisers Charles Koppelman and L. Londell McMillan—will likely be compelled to return their seven-figure fees, according to insiders.

Breamer, Londell and Koppleman need to reach a settlement with the sibs and fade into the background. Variety is saying that each album in the deal had different terms. So I think WB will be the only company doing anything with the vault and that appears to be what Prince wanted. So in the end he did not make provisions for his music.

What an shit show.

NewpowerScarfo said:

What an shit show.

So in essence, WB owns the licensing for the Vault material during Prince's contract years with Warners? And Prince owns the masters for the whole period? What is the benefit of owning the masters if you can release them independently/

After 1996, Prince owns the Vault material, licensing and all ?

The deal signed in 2014, reverted the ownership of the masters to Prince, but licensing to Warners. How is he free? Each album has it's own terms. Crazy. The legal headaches as an artist are too much.

Sorry, I am not savy on the legal concepts of the recording industry.

nelcp777 said:

So in essence, WB owns the licensing for the Vault material during Prince's contract years with Warners? And Prince owns the masters for the whole period? What is the benefit of owning the masters if you can release them independently/

After 1996, Prince owns the Vault material, licensing and all ?

The deal signed in 2014, reverted the ownership of the masters to Prince, but licensing to Warners. How is he free? Each album has it's own terms. Crazy. The legal headaches as an artist are too much.

Sorry, I am not savy on the legal concepts of the recording industry.

Well WB has to work with the estate if they own the master recordings and any licensing revenue will be split between WB and the estate.

I just do not think Prince had the money to do anything with the vault material so finding someone to partner up with took the financial burden off of him.

Well the problem is as someone said prior on PRINCE material coming out now, a lot of what he stored may not even be in great condition at this point especially 80's and 90's stuff which I am sure is most of it. Listen to "Moonbeam Levels" that is NOT a master recording that is basically someone ripping it from the bootleg because it really sounds no better quality wise, sounds muddy like many things on bootleg, and the problem is that WB might not have any access to masters he did that he never released that would have to worked out I would guess with someone that could actually go into the vault and sift through things. As far as PR reissue that is probably something he signed over to them in 2014 when AOA and PLECTRUM came out and he got access to his masters back. UMG is even quoted as saying they are looking to really get the stuff that "sold" which is basically the 80's stuff through D&P after that I am sure they are not to crazy about the stuff or really excited over getting it which one person that was quoted in an article said "we are more interested in his hits than vault stuff" which is typical record company BS they want the stuff that sold and try to repackage and sell it again, the VAULT and anything that comes from it is not really going to spark a huge interest except with the loyals.

so does this mean that UMG DOESNT think the vault material is worth trying to sell and make a profit beyond the 30 million??

http://www.startribune.com/the-floodgates-are-about-to-open-on-prince-s-career-after-death/419710153/

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting on the future of the legacy of P. Both McMillan and Koppelman are mentioned in the article, but nothing about the UMG deal heading south.

luvsexy4all said:

rogifan said:

luvsexy4all said:

so does this mean that UMG DOESNT think the vault material is worth trying to sell and make a profit beyond the 30 million??

Does UMG even know what's in the vault?

Nope.

No record company bidding on the vault new its contents. It seems Londell and Koppleman beat up their sales pitch...I guess UMG figured so many albums, live shows in both audio and video and any other items would make their bid worthwhile.

I still cannot fathom how these companies had no idea about the WB deal from 2014?

mrmaxwell said:

rogifan said:

luvsexy4all said: Does UMG even know what's in the vault?

Nope.

No record company bidding on the vault new its contents. It seems Londell and Koppleman beat up their sales pitch...I guess UMG figured so many albums, live shows in both audio and video and any other items would make their bid worthwhile.

I still cannot fathom how these companies had no idea about the WB deal from 2014?

They knew but they probably had no idea that Prince gave them Purple Rain/Parade and all non-domestic rights forever along with the rights to veto any vault release made while Prince was under contract with WB. The 2014 deal made things much more complicated than they thought it would be.

The WB albums were the ones with the most sales and made the most money...

Just with 1999, Purple Rain, Batman, D&P those sold over :42 million world wide...

Strive said:

rogifan said:

Strive said:

They knew but they probably had no idea that Prince gave them Purple Rain/Parade and all non-domestic rights forever along with the rights to veto any vault release made while Prince was under contract with WB. The 2014 deal made things much more complicated than they thought it would be.

It floors me that no one did their due diligence to make sure they knew exactly what that 2014 WB deal entailed.

But the Special Administrator billed the estate for reviewing the business deals after 4/21. Perhaps they should refund those payments since due diligence was not done.

It will all come together eventually when the suits get past their ego and greed.

Or another way to look at it - Perhaps UMG, a former business partner I believe responsible for his 3121 comeback, generously loaned the estate/family $30 million to stay afloat while sorting the aftermath of Prince not leaving a will. Interest free. Perhaps in hopes they might get a deal on future opportunity. But now that isn't happening, the estate may have secured sufficient capital, and so they would like their loan back.

FUNKNROLL said:

rogifan said:

charismatic said:

30 million seems like a low figure anyway. They need to hire Michael Jackson's estate management who pulled in nearly billion dollars, unless of course y'all don't think Prince could pull in a billion. Hell Michael Jackson got a 50 million dollar deal in the 90s. Yes, 30 million is low balling.

The people who managed the estate had already been working with Michael for a while, but the big moneymaker has been the Cirque "ONE".

There's no doubt Prince's estate is going to have discussions with the Cirque. Whether or not P had discussions with them before, we'll find out in due time. There's defintely enough material, symbolism, outfits, outtakes, etc to work a storyline out.

nelcp777 said:

rogifan said:

Strive said: It floors me that no one did their due diligence to make sure they knew exactly what that 2014 WB deal entailed.

But the Special Administrator billed the estate for reviewing the business deals after 4/21. Perhaps they should refund those payments since due diligence was not done.

Well that is one of the things Tyka and Omarr have been complained about.

jaypotton said:

FUNKNROLL said:

Or another way to look at it - Perhaps UMG, a former business partner I believe responsible for his 3121 comeback, generously loaned the estate/family $30 million to stay afloat while sorting the aftermath of Prince not leaving a will. Interest free. Perhaps in hopes they might get a deal on future opportunity. But now that isn't happening, the estate may have secured sufficient capital, and so they would like their loan back.

If that was the case then they would not have announced the deal only to then complain about the deal not being what they thought it was. They would have done this behind closed doors! No this is a truly major cock up on the part of both parties and the worst thing about it is that us fans will not be getting what we thought we would be getting any time soon until this is all sorted. I bet Warners are laughing their asses off!!!

I think it obvious that WB has the upper hand and I think this is just the way Prince wanted it.

One person who know something is Van Jones.

jaypotton said:

MattyJam said:

leadline said:

It will all come together eventually when the suits get past their ego and greed.

So, it will never come together then.